If you or someone you know has a disability and is unable to access the supports and services you need to live in the community, you can file a human rights complaint against the Province of Nova Scotia.
If you are living in an institution (a hospital, Regional Rehabilitation Center, Adult Residential Center or Residential Care Facility), don’t want to be there, and want to live in the community, you can file a human rights complaint against the Province of Nova Scotia.
In the recent Human Rights Board of Inquiry decision, the Board ruled that the Province of Nova Scotia is under an obligation to provide meaningful access to live in the community to people with disabilities.
Filing a human rights complaint against the Province of Nova Scotia is a way for individuals and/or their families to have their right to live in and be included in community respected.
The Board stated that the Human Rights Commission would look at human rights claims and assess them in terms of whether the person with a disability was getting ‘meaningful access’ to live in the community from people with disabilities on a case by case, individual basis.
This means that any individual who believes that their rights are being violated can bring their own human rights complaint to have their rights respected. This includes all persons with disabilities who are either unnecessarily institutionalized or on years-long wait lists while waiting for the Department of Community Services to offer them a suitable living situation of their own in the community.
There are some 1,500 people on the Department of Community Services wait list for its Disability Supports Program.
So, if you or a loved one are unnecessarily institutionalised and/or on a wait-list for supports and services, and interested in filing a human rights complaint, contact the the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
Tell the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that you want to:
- File a human rights complaint against the Province of Nova Scotia (this would include both the Departments of Community Services and the Health and Wellness which are both involved).
- Tell your story in your complaint; including what your needs are, your current living situation, how long you have been waiting, how it has affected you, and what you are seeking by way of a community-based situation.
Filing a human rights complaint:
A complaint should be filed at any of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission’s offices: https://humanrights.novascotia.ca/contact-us
Call toll-free in Nova Scotia: 1-877-269-7699
The Commission has three offices around the Province:
Halifax Office
5657
Spring Garden Road
Park Lane Terrace
3rd Fl., Suite
305
Telephone:
902-424-4111
Fax:
902-424-0596
Mailing
Address:
PO Box 2221
Halifax, NS
B3J 3C4
Sydney Office
Provincial
Building
360 Prince Street
Sydney, NS
B1P 5L1
Phone:
902-563-2142
Fax: 902-563-5613
Digby Office
Mailing
address:
PO Box 1029
Digby, NS
B0V 1A0
Phone: 902-245-4791